Diagnosing network problems in an IPV6 dual stack network

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to diagnosing problems in a dual stack network supporting Internet Protocol Version Six (IPV6). Inventoried information can be retrieved from an inventory system in response to a problem associated the dual stack network. It can be determined whether a mismatch exists between live customer address information associated with a customer edge router and the inventoried information. A notification can be generated in response to determining whether a mismatch exists. The notification includes information representing a cause of the problem and resolution of the problem.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/323,050, filed on Nov. 25, 2008, issued on Mar. 8, 2011 as U.S. Pat.No. 7,903,569, which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to diagnosing problems occurring in a dualstack network configured to support IPV6.

2. Brief Discussion of Related Art

Conventional service provider networks generally include routers, suchas edge routers and core routers, which route information from anoriginating source to a destination. Customers can connect to theservice provider network by connecting to a provider edge (PE) router.

Internet Protocol Version Six (IPV6) is the latest Internet protocol tobe established and offers several advantages over the previous Internetprotocol, Internet Protocol Version Four (IPV4), such as an increasedaddressing range. Service providers have been transitioning from IPV4 toIPV6 using several approaches. In one approach, service providers areimplementing IPV4 and IPV6 concurrent. To achieve this, the serviceproviders are implementing dual stack technology that allows IPV6 andIPV4 capability to co-exist in their provider edge routers, where suchrouters can translate data being sent or received from one protocolversion to the other.

Many problems can occur in IPV6 networks, which can be burdensome andtime consuming to isolate and diagnose. When some IPV6 failures occur,the customer's network can still be active, but the customer can losesome or all of their services. To resolve these failures, the serviceprovider must find the root cause of the failure quickly to minimizedowntime experienced by the customer and to mitigate the impact of thefailure on customer services.

It, therefore, is desired to automatically diagnose problems in IPV6networks and to notify an operator of the type and/or location of theproblem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The preferred embodiments of the present invention automaticallydiagnose problems associated with a dual stack network capable ofsupporting both Internet Protocol Version Four (IPV4) and InternetProtocol Version Six (IPV6). Embodiments of the present inventioneliminate or reduce network downtime experienced by customers and canreduce the time and labor required of an operator to find, diagnose, andresolve the problem.

Embodiments disclosed herein are directed to a computer-implementedmethod of diagnosing problems in a dual stack network supportingInternet Protocol Version Six (IPV6). The method includes retrievinginventoried information from an inventory system in response to aproblem associated the dual stack network and determining whether amismatch exists between live customer address information associatedwith a customer edge router and the inventoried information. The livecustomer address information includes a live Internet protocol (IP)address, a live customer source Media Access Control (MAC) address, anda live customer destination MAC address. The method also includesgenerating a notification in response to determining whether a mismatchexists. The notification includes information representing a cause ofthe problem and resolution of the problem.

Embodiments disclosed herein are directed to a computer readable mediumholding instructions, wherein execution of the instructions by at leastone computing device implements a method for diagnosing problems in adual stack network supporting Internet Protocol Version Six (IPV6). Themethod implemented by the execution of the instructions includesretrieving inventoried information from an inventory system in responseto a problem associated the dual stack network and determining whether amismatch exists between live customer address information associatedwith a customer edge router and the inventoried information. The livecustomer address information includes a live Internet protocol (IP)address, a live customer source Media Access Control (MAC) address, anda live customer destination MAC address. The method also includesgenerating a notification in response to determining whether a mismatchexists, where the notification includes information representing a causeof the problem and resolution of the problem.

Embodiments disclosed herein are directed to a system for diagnosingproblems in a dual stack network supporting Internet Protocol VersionSix (IPV6). The system includes a computing system formed by one or morecomputing devices. The computing system is configured to implement adiagnostic engine to retrieve inventoried information from an inventorysystem in response to a problem associated with the dual stack network,determine whether a mismatch exists between live customer addressinformation associated with a customer edge routed and the inventoriedinformation, and to generate a notification in response to determiningwhether a mismatch exists. The notification includes informationrepresenting a cause of the problem and resolution of the problem. Thelive customer address information includes a live Internet protocol (IP)address, a live customer source Media Access Control (MAC) address, anda live customer destination MAC address.

In some embodiments, a port status of a port on a live provider edge(PE) router associated with the customer edge router can be checked todetermine whether the port is active. If the port is inactive, Layer 1and Layer 2 diagnostics can be performed. If the port is active, a liveIP address and network subnet mask associated with the port on the livePE router can be retrieved.

In some embodiment, policy information implemented by a live provideredge (PE) router can be retrieved. The policy information can include apacket count limit. It can be determined whether a packet transmitted bythe customer edge router exceeds the packet count limit. A notificationidentifying a bandwidth problem can be generated in response to thepacket exceeding the packet count limit. Otherwise a ping test can beperformed from the PE router to the customer edge router with maximumtransfer unit (MTU) packets and the ping test results can be checked. Ifthe ping test is successful, a notification can be generated to indicatethat no problem was found in the dual stack network and an inventoriedcustomer MAC address can be retrieved based on a customer IPV6 addressto locate customer equipment that has failed in response to a failure ofthe ping test. The customer IPV6 address from the PE router.

In some embodiments, the live customer source MAC address can beretrieved from a mac-address-table maintained by a provider edge (PE)router associated with the customer edge router.

In some embodiments, the inventoried information is provisioned by aservice provider when a customer network is set up and remains unchangedunless there is a change to a service agreement between the serviceprovider and a customer associated with the customer network.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentfrom the following detailed description considered in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that thedrawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition ofthe limits of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary network in which the preferred embodiments ofthe present invention can be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart that shows automatic diagnosis of problems in anIPV6 dual stack network; and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a service provider unit that is suitablefor implementing a diagnostic engine that automatically diagnosesproblems in an IPV6 dual stack network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention include a diagnostic engine thatallows a service provider to automatically diagnose problems in a dualstack network that supports Internet Protocol Version Six (IPV6) usingdual IP layer devices. IPV6 is defined by the Internet Engineering TaskForce (IETF). A dual stack is defined by Request For Comments (RFC) 1933provided by the IETF and refers to a node, such as a router, in anetwork that is configured to support both Internet Protocol VersionFour (IPV4) and IPV6. Problems in an IPV6 network can include, but arenot limited to configuration errors, network congestion, translationerrors, and the like. The diagnostic engine can preferably accessinformation associated with routers in the network and can use thisinformation to diagnose a problem in the network. When the diagnosticengine determines that a problem exists, a notification can be generatedthat identifies the type and/or location of the problem. Based on thisnotification an operator can quickly and readily resolve the problem.

The preferred embodiments enable service providers to detect anddiagnose problems quickly to eliminate or reduce the network downtimeexperienced by a customer when a problem occurs. In some cases, thepreferred embodiments may detect, diagnose, and resolve the problembefore the customer becomes aware of the problem. In addition, thepreferred embodiments can reduce the time and labor required of anoperator to find, diagnose, and resolve the problem. This allows theservice provider to provide a high quality of service while reducingcosts associated with network maintenance.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary dual stack network architecture 100(hereinafter “network 100”) in accordance with the preferred embodimentsof the present invention. The network 100 includes a service providernetwork 110, customer networks 130, and a third party network 140. Theservice provider network can include provide edge (PE) routers 112 andprovider routers 114. The PE routers 112 are on the periphery of theservice provider network 110 and allow other devices, such customer edgerouters, or networks, such as customer networks or third party networks,to connect to the service provider network 110. Information can berouted through the service provider network 110 from an originatingsource PE router to a destination PE router. The provider routers 114form an interior of the service provider network 110 and can link the PErouters 112 of the service provider network 110 to provide routes overwhich information can be transmitted between the originating source andthe destination.

In some embodiments, the PE routers 112 can be configured as dual IPlayer devices capable of implementing a dual stack for supporting bothIPV4 and IPV6. In some embodiments, the interior of the service providernetwork 110 is implemented using IPV6. For these embodiments, datapackets received using IPV4 are mapped to IPV6 and routed through theservice provider network 110 as IPV6 traffic. Mapping between IPV4 datapackets and IPV6 data packets is required because IPV4 and IPV6 areincompatible. As a result, a customer network operating with IPV4 cannotcommunicate with a customer network operating IPV6 unless the datapackets are converted from one protocol version to the other.

The customer networks 130 preferably include one or more customer edge(CE) routers 132, which are also referred to herein as access routers.The CE routers 132 facilitate communication with the service providernetwork 110 by communicatively coupling to the PE routers 112, wheresuch communicative coupling can be through the third part network 140.The CE routers 132 can be implemented as dual IP layer devicesconfigured to implemented a dual stack to support both IPV4 and IPV6. CErouters 132 the customer networks 130 are assigned an IPV4 compliantInternet protocol (IP) address, and IPV6 compliant IP address, and canalso have an associated Media Access Control (MAC) address. In someembodiments, CE routers 132 can be configured for IPV4, IPV6, or bothIPV4 and IPV6.

Routers (e.g., CE routers and PE routers) can include configurationinformation, such as network policies, virtual routing and forwarding(VRF) tables to direct traffic through the network 100, IP addresses,and the like. Policies governor the interaction between the customernetwork and the service provider network. Some examples of policies thatcan be implemented include limiting a size of packets that can betransmitted over the network, limiting the access speed available to thecustomer networks 130, and the like. Some of these policies can bedefined in a customer service agreement between the service provider andcustomer.

A service provider can maintain an inventory system 150, which is adatabase or storage system that maintains inventory information aboutthe network and the network nodes (e.g., PE routers, provider routers,and CE routers) including information associated with the customer andinformation associated with service provider information. Some examplesof customer information maintained by the inventory system includesconfiguration information (e.g., IP addresses of CE routers, MACaddresses of CE routers), policies, circuit identification (ID) uniqueto each customer assigned by the service provider to indicate servicelevels including access speed, and the like. Some information maintainedby the inventory system can be associated with the service providernetwork, such as network topology information, configuration informationincluding addresses of the PE router 112 and the provider routers 114,policies, VRFs, and the like. Some, all, or none of the inventoryinformation in the inventory system is static. The inventory informationis information specified for each customer network when the customernetwork is set up and typically does not change unless there is, forexample, a change in the agreement between the service provider and thecustomer. As such, the inventory system represents an expectedimplementation of the network 100.

A service provider unit 160 can be used by the service provider toimplement the diagnostic engine. The service provider unit 160 cancommunicate with devices connected in the network 100 to allow thediagnostic engine to implement tests and gather information from thedevices connected in the network 100.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a programmatic diagnosis of problems in adual stack network that is performed by a diagnostic engine inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention. Initially, atrouble ticket or other mechanism for indicating a problem in thenetwork can be generated. In response to the trouble ticket, thediagnostic engine obtains a live MAC address associated with a CE routerfrom the trouble ticket. This represents ‘live’ information associatedwith the network. As used herein, “live” information refers toinformation in the network that the network nodes (e.g., routers) canuse during operation of the network.

Subsequently, the diagnostic engine retrieves dual stack informationincluding the ‘inventoried’ MAC address associated a CE router, from theinventory system (step 200). As used herein, “inventoried” or“inventory” information refers to information that is stored by theinventory system as reference information initially provisioned by theservice provider when the customer network is created. The diagnosticengine checks the dual stack information in the inventory system todetermine whether an inventoried IPV6 address (i.e., an IPV6 compliantIP address) exists for the inventoried MAC address (step 202). Thisallows the diagnostic engine to determine whether the customer networkthat is experiencing a problem is configured to use IPV4 or dual stack.If no IPV6 address exists for the inventoried MAC address (202), thediagnostic engine determines that the problem is associated with theIPV4 and continues diagnosing the problem by performing an existing IPV4end-to-end network testing (step 204).

Otherwise, the diagnostic engine determines that a dual stack isimplemented by executing a command, such as a show interface command toretrieve the live port status and provisioning data from the live PErouter, using the IPV4 and IPV6 address associated with the CE router(step 206). A port is an interface on a router to which other devices,such as routers can connect and port status refers to a status of theport's operation. The diagnostic engine checks the status of the port ofthe PE router associated with the CE router to determine whether a linkand/or protocol is up or down between the PE router and the CE router(step 208). If the port is inactive (i.e., down) (step 210), thediagnostics engine continues by conducting existing Layer 1 and/or Layer2 testing (step 212). Layer 1 refers to the physical layer of a networkincluding physical connections between device using wires, opticalfiber, or wireless technologies including satellite and radio frequencycommunication. Layer 2 refers to a data link or logical layer of anetwork that is built on the physical layer (i.e. Layer 1) of thenetwork. Layer 2 of a network can be used to implement protocols, suchas Ethernet, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame Relay, and thelike. Otherwise, the diagnostic engine checks the live IP address andnetwork subnet mask associated with the port on the PE router using acommand, such as the show run interface command to retrieve such IPV6data from the live PE router (step 214). This command allows thediagnostics engine to identify the live information including customersubnet mask, the customer IP address (IPV4 and IPV6), CE router IPaddress, the virtual routing table name, and the like.

The live customer IP address is compared to the inventoried customer IPaddress provisioned by the service provider and stored in the inventorysystem. If there is an IP address mismatch between the live customer IPaddress and the inventoried customer IP address (step 216), thediagnostic engine generates a notification that there is a possible IPV6configuration error (step 218). A mismatch refers to a differencebetween the inventoried information and the live information. Thenotification can be sent to a technician who can review the results ofthe diagnostic engine and proceed to resolve the problem associated withthe impacted customer. Otherwise, the diagnostic engine executes acommand to get the live Mac address information from a mac-address-tablein the live PE router, such as a show mac-adress-table count command(step 220). The mac-address-table includes source and destination MACaddresses associated with customer edge routers. The live MAC addressinformation can be retrieved from the PE router and can include a sourceMAC address associated with the CE router and a destination MAC addressassociated with the live PE router. The live source MAC addressassociated with the CE router is retrieved from the PE routerimplemented in the network and is compared to a correspondinginventoried source MAC address in the inventory system (step 222). Ifthere is a mismatch between the live source MAC address and theinventoried source MAC address (step 224), the diagnostic enginegenerates a notification requesting verification of MAC addresses (step226).

If there is no mismatch between the live MAC address and the inventoriedsource MAC address (step 224), the diagnostic engine executes a command,such as the show cam dynamic command with interface string to retrievelive destination VLAN and MAC address from the PE router (step 228).Subsequently, the diagnostics engine obtains the live destinationvirtual local area network (VLAN) and destination MAC address (step 230)and compares the inventoried destination MAC address from the inventorysystem to the live destination MAC address of the PE router (step 232).If there is a mismatch between the live destination MAC address and theinventoried destination MAC address (step 234), the diagnostic enginegenerates a notification to inform a technician that there is a possibleMAC configuration problem (step 236).

Otherwise, the diagnostic engine executes a show policy map interfacecommand with interface string to retrieve policies implemented by thelive PE router, such as packet count limits (step 238). A packet countlimit refers to a policy that limits a size of the packets that can betransmitted using the service provider network. If any packet exceededthe policy limit (step 240), the diagnostic engine generates anotification identifying a bandwidth problem so that a customerinterface agent can inform the customer (step 242). If no packetsexceeded the policy limit (step 240), the diagnostic engine performs aping test with maximum transfer unit (MTU) packets (i.e., packets havinga size equal to the maximum size specified in the policy) from the livePE router to the source customer edge router (step 244) and checks theIPV4 and IPV6 dual stack ping test results (step 246). A ping testrefers to sending a test signal from a PE router to a customer edgerouter and waiting for the customer edge router to respond to the testsignal by sending an acknowledgement or other signal, such as the testsignal, back to the PE router. In the event that the ping test issuccessful (step 248), a notification is generated indicating that noproblem was found (step 250). If the ping test fails (step 248), thediagnostic engine checks the customer MAC address based on the customerIPV6 address to locate the customer equipment that has failed (step 252)and a notification is generated to instruct that an attempt to contactthe customer on the equipment that failed the ping test can be made(step 254).

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary service provider unit 300 for implementingthe test and diagnostics of the dual stack network using the diagnosticengine. The service provider unit 300 can be a mainframe, personalcomputer (PC), laptop computer, workstation, handheld device, such as aPDA, or the like. In the illustrated embodiment, the service providerunit 300 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 302 and preferably adisplay device 304. The display device 304 enables the service providerunit 300 to communicate directly with an operator or technician througha visual display. The service provider unit 300 can further include dataentry device(s) 306, such as a keyboard, touch screen, and/or mouse. Theservice provider unit 300 can include storage 308 to store data andinstructions. The storage 308 can include such technologies as a floppydrive, hard drive, tape drive, Flash drive, optical drive, read onlymemory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), and the like. The storage 308can be local or remote to the service provider unit 300 and can includethe inventory system 150 for storing information inventory information,as well as applications 310.

Applications 310, such as the diagnostic engine 312 for detecting anddiagnosing problems in the network 100 as described above can beresident in the storage 308. The diagnostic engine 312 can includeinstructions for implementing those embodiments depicted in FIG. 2. Theservice provider unit 300 preferably includes a network interface 314for communicating with the network 100 accessing the storage 308 via acommunication network, such as the network 100, when the storage 308 isimplemented remotely. The CPU 302 operates to run the application instorage 308 by performing instructions therein and storing dataresulting from the performed instructions, which may be presented to anoperator or technician via the display 304 or by other means known tothose skilled in the art, such as a printer or e-mail. The data caninclude a type of problem, such as a configuration error or a networkerror, in the network 100 so that the operator can quickly identify andresolve the problem.

The diagnostic engine 312 enables service providers to detect anddiagnose problems in a dual stack network quickly, thereby eliminatingor reducing network downtimes experienced by a customer when a problemoccurs. The diagnostic engine 312 can detect, diagnose, and resolveproblems before the customer becomes aware of the problem and can reducethe time and labor required by an operator to find, diagnose, andresolve the problem. As a result, the service provider can provide ahigh quality of service while reducing costs associated with networkmaintenance.

It is understood that the embodiments described herein can beimplemented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware andsoftware. For example, embodiments can be implemented using a computersystem configured to execute instructions of a computer program (e.g.,applications), which can control an operation of the computer systemsuch that it carries out embodiments described herein. The computersystem can include one or more computing devices (e.g., service providerunits), and in some embodiments the computer system can be implementedas a distributed system of networked computing devices, where thecomputing device can implement portions of an application, such as thediagnostic engine, to facilitate diagnosis of problems in a dual stacknetwork. Alternatively, a specific use computer, containing specializedhardware for carrying out embodiments can be utilized.

Terms such as applications, computer program, software program, program,program product, software, etc., in the present context mean anyexpression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructionsintended to cause a system having an information processing capabilityto perform a particular function either directly or after either or bothof the following: (a) conversion to another language, code or notation;and/or (b) reproduction in a different material form.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been describedherein, it is expressly noted that the present invention is not limitedto these embodiments, but rather the intention is that additions andmodifications to what is expressly described herein also are includedwithin the scope of the invention. Moreover, it is to be understood thatthe features of the various embodiments described herein are notmutually exclusive and can exist in various combinations andpermutations, even if such combinations or permutations are not madeexpress herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of diagnosing a problem in a dual stacknetwork comprising: maintaining, in a storage device, inventoryinformation associated with a customer edge router in the dual stacknetwork; retrieving, by a processing device, the inventory informationassociated with the customer edge router in response to a problemassociated with the dual stack network; determining, by the processingdevice, whether a mismatch exists between live customer addressinformation associated with the customer edge router and the inventoryinformation associated with the customer edge router in response to theproblem associated with the dual stack network; and generating, by theprocessing device, a notification in response to determining whether themismatch exists, the notification including information representing acause of the problem and a resolution of the problem.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising: checking a port status of a port on a liveprovider edge router associated with the customer edge router todetermine whether the port is active; performing layer 1 and layer 2diagnostics if the port is inactive; and checking a live internetprotocol address and network subnet mask associated with the port on thelive provider edge router in response to the port being active.
 3. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising: retrieving policy informationimplemented by a live provider edge router associated with the customeredge router, the policy information including a packet count limit;determining whether a packet transmitted by the customer edge routerexceeds the packet count limit; generating a notification identifying abandwidth problem in response to the packet exceeding the packet countlimit; and performing a ping test with maximum transfer unit packetsfrom the live provider edge router to the customer edge router.
 4. Themethod of claim 3 further comprising: generating a notification inresponse to the ping test being successful, the notification indicatingthat no problem was found in the dual stack network; and checking aninventory customer media access control address based on a customerinternet protocol version six address to locate customer equipment thathas failed in response to a failure of the ping test.
 5. The method ofclaim 4 further comprising retrieving the customer internet protocolversion six address from the provider edge router.
 6. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising retrieving a live customer source mediaaccess control address from an address-table maintained by a provideredge router associated with the customer edge router.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the inventory information is provisioned by a serviceprovider in response to a customer network being set up and remainsunchanged unless there is a change to a service agreement between theservice provider and a customer associated with the customer network. 8.A computer readable device to store instructions that, when executed bya processing device, performs operations comprising: retrieving from astorage device maintaining inventory information, the inventoryinformation being associated with a customer edge router in a dual stacknetwork in response to a problem associated with the dual stack network;determining whether a mismatch exists between live customer addressinformation associated with the customer edge router and the inventoryinformation associated with the customer edge router in response to theproblem associated with the dual stack network; and generating anotification in response to determining whether the mismatch exists, thenotification including information representing a cause of the problemand a resolution of the problem.
 9. The computer readable device ofclaim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: checking a port statusof a port on a live provider edge router associated with the customeredge router to determine whether the port is active; performing layer 1and layer 2 diagnostics if the port is inactive; and checking a liveinternet protocol address and network subnet mask associated with theport on the live provider edge router in response to the port beingactive.
 10. The computer readable device of claim 8, wherein theoperations further comprise: retrieving policy information implementedby a provider edge router associated with the customer edge router, thepolicy information including a packet count limit; determining whether apacket transmitted by the customer edge router exceeds the packet countlimit; generating a notification identifying a bandwidth problem inresponse to the packet exceeding the packet count limit; and performinga ping test with maximum transfer unit packets from the provider edgerouter to the customer edge router.
 11. The computer readable device ofclaim 10, wherein the operations further comprise: generating anotification in response to the ping test being successful, thenotification indicating that no problem was found in the dual stacknetwork; and checking an inventory customer media access control addressbased on a customer internet protocol version six address to locatecustomer equipment that has failed in response to a failure of the pingtest.
 12. The computer readable device of claim 11, wherein theoperations further comprise retrieving the customer internet protocolversion six address from the provider edge router.
 13. The computerreadable device of claim 8, wherein the operations further compriseretrieving a live customer source media access control address from anaddress-table maintained by a provider edge router associated with thecustomer edge router.
 14. The computer readable device of claim 8,wherein the inventory information is provisioned by a service providerin response to a customer network being set up and remains unchangedunless there is a change to a service agreement between the serviceprovider and a customer associated with the customer network.
 15. Asystem for to diagnose a problem in a dual stack network comprising: aprocessing device; and a storage device to store a diagnostic engine,inventory information associated with a customer edge router in the dualstack network, and instructions that, when executed by the processingdevice, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:retrieving the inventory information associated with the customer edgerouter from the storage device in response to a problem associated withthe dual stack network; determining whether a mismatch exists betweenlive customer address information associated with the customer edgerouter and the inventory information associated with the customer edgerouter in response to the problem associated with the dual stacknetwork; and generating a notification in response to determiningwhether the mismatch exists, the notification including informationrepresenting a cause of the problem and a resolution of the problem. 16.The system of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:checking a port status of a port on a provider edge router associatedwith the customer edge router to determine whether the port is active,performing layer 1 and layer 2 diagnostics if the port is inactive; andchecking a live internet protocol address and network subnet maskassociated with the port on the provider edge router in response to theport being active.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: retrieving policy information implemented by aprovider edge router associated with the customer edge router includinga packet count limit; determining whether a packet transmitted by thecustomer edge router exceeds the packet count limit; generating anotification identifying a bandwidth problem in response to the packetexceeding the packet count limit; and performing a ping test withmaximum transfer unit packets from the provider edge router to thesource customer edge router.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein theoperations further comprise: generating a notification indicating thatno problem was found in the network in response to the ping test beingsuccessful; and checking an inventory customer media access controladdress based on a customer internet protocol version six address tolocate customer equipment that has failed in response to a failure ofthe ping test.
 19. The system of claim 15, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: retrieving a customer internet protocol version sixaddress from a provider edge router associated with the customer edgerouter.
 20. The system of claim 15, wherein the inventory information isprovisioned by a service provider in response to a customer networkbeing set up and remains unchanged unless there is a change to a serviceagreement between the service provider and a customer associated withthe customer network.